Nuclear powers of the world for 2023, list of countries with nuclear weapons
Contents:
• The list of nuclear powers in the world for 2023 includes ten major states. Information on which countries have nuclear potential and in what units it is quantified is based on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and Business Insider.
The nine countries that are officially holders of WMD form the so-called "Nuclear Club".
10. Iran
Number of nuclear warheads: No data.
First test: No data.
Last test: No data.
• To date, it is officially known which countries have nuclear weapons. And Iran is not one of them. However, he did not curtail work on the nuclear program, and there are persistent rumors that this country has its own nuclear weapons. The Iranian authorities say they can build it for themselves, but for ideological reasons they are limited only to the use of uranium for peaceful purposes.
• So far, Iran's use of the atom has been under the control of the IAEA as a result of the 2015 agreement, but the status quo may soon change.
• Since January 6, Iran has abandoned the latest restrictions on a nuclear deal to develop nuclear weapons for a possible strike against the United States.
9 DPRK
Number of nuclear warheads: 10-60
First test: November 2006, XNUMX
Last test: November 2018, XNUMX
• In the list of countries with nuclear weapons in 2023, to the great horror of the Western world, the DPRK has entered. Flirting with the atom in North Korea began in the middle of the last century, when, frightened by the US plans to bomb Pyongyang, Kim Il Sung turned to the USSR and China for help. The development of nuclear weapons began in the 1970s, froze as the political situation improved in the 90s, and naturally continued when it worsened. Already since 2004, nuclear tests have been taking place in the “mighty prosperous power”. Of course, as the Korean military assures, for purely harmless purposes – for the purpose of space exploration.
• Adding to the tension is the fact that the exact number of North Korean nuclear warheads is unknown. According to some data, their number does not exceed 20, according to others it reaches 60 units.
• North Korea is preparing to test another nuclear bomb in 2023.
8. Israel
Number of nuclear warheads: 80
First test: November 1979, XNUMX
Last test: November 1979, XNUMX
• Israel has never said it has nuclear weapons, but it has never claimed otherwise either. The piquancy of the situation is given by the fact that Israel refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Along with this, the "Promised Land" vigilantly monitors the peaceful and not so peaceful atom of its neighbors and, if necessary, does not hesitate to bomb the nuclear centers of other countries – as was the case with Iraq in 1981. Israel has been rumored to have had the potential to build a nuclear bomb since 1979, when flashes of light suspiciously similar to nuclear explosions were recorded in the South Atlantic. It is assumed that either Israel, or South Africa, or both of these states together are responsible for this test.
7. India
Number of nuclear warheads: 120-130
First test: November 1974, XNUMX
Last test: November 1998, XNUMX
• Despite the successfully detonated nuclear charge back in 1974, India officially recognized itself as a nuclear power only at the end of the last century. True, having blown up three nuclear devices in May 1998, two days after that, India announced its refusal to further tests.
6. Pakistan
Number of nuclear warheads: 130-140
First test: November 1998, XNUMX
Last test: November 1998, XNUMX
• It is no wonder that India and Pakistan, which have a common border and are in a state of permanent hostility, seek to overtake and overtake their neighbor – including the nuclear area. After the 1974 Indian bombing, it was only a matter of time before Islamabad developed its own. As the then Prime Minister of Pakistan stated: "If India develops its own nuclear weapons, we will make ours, even if we have to eat grass." And they did it, however, with a twenty-year delay.
• After India conducted tests in 1998, Pakistan promptly conducted its own by detonating several nuclear bombs at the Chagai test site.
5. United Kingdom
Number of nuclear warheads: 215
First test: November 1952, XNUMX
Last test: November 1991, XNUMX
• The UK is the only country in the nuclear five that has not conducted tests on its territory. The British preferred to do all nuclear explosions in Australia and the Pacific Ocean, but since 1991 it was decided to stop them. True, in 2015, David Cameron lit up, admitting that England, if necessary, is ready to drop a couple of bombs. But he didn't say who exactly.
4. China
Number of nuclear warheads: 270
First test: November 1964, XNUMX
Last test: November 1996, XNUMX
• China is the only country that has committed itself not to launch (or threaten to launch) nuclear strikes against non-nuclear states. And at the beginning, China stated that it would maintain its weapons only at a minimum sufficient level. However, China's defense industry has since invented four types of new ballistic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. So the question of the exact quantitative expression of this "minimum level" remains open.
3. France
Number of nuclear warheads: 300
First test: November 1960, XNUMX
Last test: November 1995, XNUMX
• In total, France conducted more than two hundred nuclear weapons tests, ranging from an explosion in the then French colony of Algiers to two atolls in French Polynesia.
• Interestingly, France has consistently refused to take part in the peace initiatives of other nuclear countries. It did not join the moratorium on nuclear testing in the late 50s, did not sign the nuclear test ban treaty in the 60s, and joined the Nonproliferation Treaty only in the early 90s.
2. USA
Number of nuclear warheads: 6800
First test: November 1945, XNUMX
Combat use: 1945 (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan)
Last test: November 1992, XNUMX
The country that has the strongest army in the world, it is also the first power to carry out a nuclear explosion, and the first and only one to date to use a nuclear weapon in a combat situation. Since then, the United States has produced 66,5 nuclear weapons of more than 100 different modifications. The main array of US nuclear weapons are submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Interestingly, the United States (like Russia) refused to participate in the negotiations that began in the spring on the complete renunciation of nuclear weapons.
• US military doctrine says that America reserves enough weapons to guarantee both its own security and the security of its allies. In addition, the United States promised not to strike at non-nuclear states if they comply with the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1. Russia
Number of nuclear warheads: 7000
First test: November 1949, XNUMX
Last test: November 1990, XNUMX
• No. 1 nuclear power in the world in 2023. Part of the weapons was inherited by Russia after the demise of the USSR – the existing nuclear warheads were removed from the military bases of the former Soviet republics. According to the Russian military, they may decide to use nuclear weapons in response to similar actions. Or in the case of strikes with conventional weapons, as a result of which the very existence of Russia will be in jeopardy.
• For 2023, Russia has planned large-scale exercises of nuclear forces of strategic deterrence with launches of cruise and ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian nuclear program
• At the Munich Conference 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country could reconsider the renunciation of nuclear weapons provided for in the Budapest Memorandum. Thus, it can be assumed that Ukraine in 2023 may begin to develop nuclear weapons on its territory. Certain developments for this have remained in the country since the days of the Soviet Union.
“Of course, there is a certain reserve in Ukraine, and there are nuclear physicists. They still have 15 power units operating, and quite a few nuclear power plants. In addition, there is spent nuclear fuel, nuclear waste, so you can make a "dirty" bomb. The question is how much it will be a full-fledged atomic bomb. Plus, we need a means of delivering nuclear weapons.”, – said analyst Yushkov in an interview with Sputnikn radio.
Statement by the leaders of the "nuclear five" countries
• On January 3, 2023, the leaders of Russia, China, Great Britain, France and the United States issued a joint statement to prevent the use of nuclear weapons in war.
“We declare that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it must never be unleashed. Since the use of nuclear weapons would have far-reaching consequences, we also reaffirm that nuclear weapons – as long as they continue to exist – should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war. We believe that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented.” - stated in a statement published on .
